Three stained glass windows in Notre Dame Cathedral, each depicting a female saint - the Belles of Notre Dame - come to life to tell the story of Quasimodo, the disfigured boy who lives in the cathedral's belfry, who was rescued as a baby by an optimistic young priest called Frollo.

 

Many years later, Frollo is the bitter and hated Archdeacon of the cathedral and Quasimodo, is now a young man in love with the gypsy dancer Esmeralda whom he watches from afar. Esmeralda is in turn in love with the captain of the city guards - Phoebus.

 

Queen of the gypsies Clopina realises that Frollo is in cohoots with the city's sultry executioner La Tortura and is planning to purge the city of her people.